ADA makes case for CHIP’s public health and prevention fund in email

December 19, 2017

Washington — As Congress finalizes 2017 legislation, the Association is urging lawmakers to "fully fund" the Children’s Health Insurance Program without making cuts to the Public Health and Prevention Fund.

In a Dec. 19 email sent to House and Senate members, the ADA notes that since the Fund’s establishment in 2010, it has made "significant investments in prevention and public health to improve the quality of health care."

The Public Health and Prevention Fund gives states the “opportunity to employ innovative methods to address the health needs critical to their communities,” the email said, pointing to New Hampshire and North Carolina, where the funding is used to support school-based dental education, screening and treatment “that have made a difference in the tooth decay rates among children where 32 percent fewer cases were found in untreated tooth decay.”

“Cutting the Public Health and Prevention Fund will hamper the opportunity to advance the quality of healthcare in communities that need it most,” the email states.

This email follows a Dec. 14 letter from ADA President Joseph P. Crowley and American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry President James D. Nickman to legislators beseeching them to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Congress has yet to reauthorize funding for the program, which expired Sept. 30.